”Comps” is a very popular, casino business term, which is short for complementaries. They are given to the patrons as a reward for being loyal and patronizing their casino. However, with more and more corporations taking over the casinos, the comp game is not as easy as it used to be.  Years ago, after a few hours of play, you would just walk up to the pit boss and tell him you would like to go for a meal; he would take out a complementary book and give you a hand-written comp that would say “full comp for two” with his signature on it.

It does not work like that today.  These are the days where you have to go to a reward center or player card services desk; you give your card, and they read from a computer screen what your theoretical win is. Then they can comp you a percentage of that amount. (30% to 40% is standard).

The theoretical win that they determine is a mathematical formula. This is based upon size of your bets, X hours played, X hands played per hour, X house advantage.
It also can be determined by actual loss.  If a player loses a large amount in a small period of time, any street smart casino employee with comp authority, will comp you based on the loss amount instead of the theoretical loss.  The problem is finding street smart employees who are not afraid to make decisions.

Once you reach a certain level of play, you will be assigned a casino host (or you can request one).  In my opinion, this is a good idea because you can now establish a one-on-one relationship with someone who has the ”power of the pen”.  What that means, is that they can go over and above the complementary guidelines the casinos normally use. A host will have the authority for room/suite upgrades, show tickets and many other perks reserved for higher level or loyal customers.

The only problem is once you get a taste of this good life (limousines,shows and comps) it is hard to go back to being a regular relatively unknown gambler again. Therefore, many times this can lead to gambling over your budget because you want to maintain that level of service.

I have some suggestions for you. Play at a slower moving table or slower pace. Here is an example…  Player A) gambles on roulette and likes to play a fast-moving game with many spins of the wheel.  He plays one hour and gets in 40 spins of the wheel with an average bet of $500.

Player B) also plays for one hour with the same $500 average bet. However, he finds a slow-moving game with less spins per hour due to the amount of players at the table that slow the pace down by placing many different wagers. In this scenario the dealer only can spin the wheel 20 times per hour.

Guess what? Both players get the same size theoretical, so therefore, the same amount of complementaries.  However, player (B)only risked half of what player (A) did because he made 50% less decisions. He did this because he chose to play at the slower-paced table.

Here is another piece of advice.  Throw the dealer a tip once in a while. Many times the floor supervisor who is assigned to watch many tables at once will ask a dealer “what was that guy betting”? Therefore, it is worth it to give the dealer a few bucks to try to get them on your side.

When I hand my casino rating card to the floor person, I always complement them on something. Usually, it’s something they are wearing. I always will say “very cool tie” even though honestly I could not care less about the tie. Most casino employees are very burnt out and do not care for their line of work, so I just trying to get them on my side a little bit by talking about them. You would not believe how this helps with ratings.

In addition, there are many times when I am finishing a session that I will just come out and ask what my average bet was.  When a customer is smart enough to do that, a supervisor is more likely to quote you a higher number to your face.  They do not want to get in any disagreements or arguments with you.

For some people, the ”comped life” never ends. What that means, is that some people get so used to the complementary meals, drinks, and shows, that they do not enjoy themselves, or live life to the fullest, outside of the casino. I have seen people become so frugal that it becomes almost obsessive-compulsive and even all-consuming. I know a few people that refuse to go out to a restaurant where they have to pay the check because they know can go into a casino and get a free meal.  The only problem with this is that you really do pay for that meal many times over because you did have to gamble and earn the points that you are using to pay for that meal.  So gamble smart people.